


my walls came crashing down

by lmaokay



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Abusive Parents, Angst, Bad Parenting, Coming Out, Fluff, Homophobic Slurs, M/M, bitty is sad in this ok im sorry, nhl jack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-09
Updated: 2016-03-09
Packaged: 2018-05-25 11:23:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6193081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lmaokay/pseuds/lmaokay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Eric Bittle, you are so, so brave."<br/></p>
            </blockquote>





	my walls came crashing down

**Author's Note:**

> what the hell am i doing

 

Jack had gotten used to the cold temperatures of a hockey rink. When your dad is a famous hockey player, it’s something you have to adapt to. But, as he held his phone in the Falconer's locker room and saw no less than fifty text messages from Bitty, Jack felt cold like he never had before. Jack scrolled through the messages displayed on his lock screen, all containing typos. This was unusual for Bitty, who usually typed perfectly with an abundance of exclamation marks. It was like his warm personality existed even over text.

**_Eric Bittle 5:30 PM_ **

_jack i kknow your in practive but please acall me as soon aspossible_

**_Eric Bittle 5:30 PM_ **

_or tect me_

**_Eric Bittle 5:31 PM_ **

_please_

It was evident that he had rushed to send them with shaking hands, and Jack felt like throwing up. His hands trembled as he grabbed his bag and left the locker room as fast as possible, ignoring his team's questions. After two failed tries he typed in his four digit pass code and dialed Bitty’s number. The other line picked up after half a ring, and it was obvious Bitty had been waiting by the phone for his call.

“Jack?” Bitty questioned, his voice smaller than Jack had heard in a long time. It broke his heart to hear his usual warm and joyful voice so small and timid.

“Bitty? Is everything okay? Do I need to come get you?” He asked. Jack found his car, unlocking it and sitting in the driver's seat. Jack’s questions prompted a sob from Bitty which tore his heart into pieces.

“God, Jack.” He whispered through his cries. “No, I’m.” He stopped. But that was enough for Jack. He rested his head on the driver’s wheel and closed his eyes against tears that burned the inside of his eyes.

“Are you hurt? Is anyone hurt?” Jack asked, voice trembling. 

“No, I’m okay. We’re all okay it’s just…” He trailed off and Jack could hear him breathing heavily on the other end. “Can I please come to Providence for the weekend? I know that I’m not supposed to come up for another two weeks and that you’ll probably have practice or PR things or interviews or something, and you probably haven’t cleaned up in forever and knowing you, you probably have no damn food in the house and you might already have people coming over which is fine, I understand you have your own life outside of me but I just need to see you right now because something happened and I can’t explain it over the phone without you here so it’s fine if I can’t stay long but God, I miss you and I need you so much right now.” He rambled, clearly upset and talking just so that he wouldn’t start crying again. Jack shushed him, softly like how his mom used to do when he was upset.

“Bitty, please. Take a deep breath or you’re going to die.” He said. He heard Bitty laugh quietly on the other end, but didn’t miss the way his breath shook when he breathed in deeply. “Of course you can come visit Bitty, don’t be a dumbass,” he said fondly. “Can someone drive you or do you need me to pick you up?” Bitty took a deep breath to say something, but Jack cut him off. “And no, you aren’t driving yourself. I’m not having you get into a wreck.”

“Chowder and Dex are busy tonight but Nursey can drive me, I’m sure. I don’t want you driving all the way down here and all the way back to Providence after you’ve been practicing hockey for three hours. It won’t do us any good to have you fall asleep at the wheel.” Bitty muttered. The relief that he could come see Jack was evidence in his voice, and his breathing sounded slightly more stable.

“Okay, then. I’ll see you in a few hours. I love you.” Jack smiled into the line. Even though it was because of negative circumstances, he was happy he’d be able to see his boyfriend two weeks earlier than their next scheduled monthly weekend together.

“I love you, too. See you soon.” Bitty breathed into the line, his voice so quiet Jack almost didn’t hear him. Jack would have found it endearing, if he hadn’t known it meant Bitty had started crying again. Jack hung up the phone and started the car, pulling away from the curb and driving home to his apartment as fast as he could without getting pulled over

\--

Two hours later, Jack’s apartment was as clean as it was going to get and Bitty was knocking at his door. Jack jumped up from the couch and ran over to the door, swinging it open. As soon as the door was open, Jack’s heart broke from the sight in front of him. Bitty’s usually immaculate hair and dress was a complete mess. His hair obviously had had fingers running though it and it stood up in all directions. Bitty was in sweatpants that looked as though they hadn’t been washed in weeks and  the Samwell jersey Jack had given to him when he graduated. It fell down to his knees, and Jack would’ve thought it looked cute if it hadn’t had obvious tear stains on it. Bitty’s eyes were rimmed red and his cheeks were splotchy. Upon seeing Jack, Bitty covered his face in his hands and let out the most pitiful sob Jack had ever heard in his life.

“Oh, Bitty.” Jack whispered, before pulling Bitty into his arms. Jack rested his chin on the top of Bitty’s head and rubbed his back as he shook in his arms. Once Bitty’s shaking had reduced to intermittent tremors, Jack pulled back and took both of his hands in his. “What happened, Bits?” He asked. Bitty smiled the tiniest bit at the nickname that Jack used, he didn’t call him that often. His smile left as quickly as it came and Bitty looked at the floor, avoiding Jack’s gaze.

“I came out to my dad.” He said, his voice barely a whisper. Jack’s grip on Bitty's fingers tightened, and he took a deep breath before asking him for the rest of the story.

Bitty pulled his hands away, but stepped closer as if to make up for the lost contact. He smiled a bitter smile, his usually warm brown eyes turned dark. Jack hoped in the back of his mind that Bitty never had to use this expression while talking about him.

“Well, at first it was everything I thought it would be. Called me a faggot, fairy, queer, nothing I haven’t heard before.” He spit. Jack startled at the slurs coming from Bitty’s mouth and the bitter tone they were said with. Even more upsetting was the implication that he had heard the words before. 

Bitty fiddled with the long sleeves of the jersey he was wearing, avoiding eye contact with Jack. His eyes lost their bitterness only to be replaced by an empty look Jack had never seen Bitty wear before.

“But then,” he started, voice shaking, “he told me that he didn’t want to see me again. He told me that…that I was not, oh god.” He stuttered, pressing the heels of his hands into his eyes. He pulled his hands back, his eyes impossibly redder and droplets of water clinging to his palms "He told me I wasn’t his son anymore, Jack. He told me he didn’t want me to come visit anymore, and that ‘he didn’t want invitations to whatever faggot wedding I had one day’ and that if I set foot in Madison again he was going to call the fucking police. He completely disowned me.” He cried, before surging forward and tucking his head into the crick of Jack’s neck and crying even more.

Jack made a mental note to make sure Bitty drank some water after he had calmed down. If he had been crying this much for hours now, it was probably only the adrenaline of seeing Jack and telling him what happened that was preventing him from collapsing. Jack wrapped his arms around Bitty’s waist, and held him as he trembled in his arms yet again. He pulled back and pressed a chaste kiss to Bitty’s forehead before touching their foreheads together.

“Eric Bittle, you are so, so brave.” He whispered. Bitty’s entire body shook at the words, but he remained silent. “You are far too kind to deserve this and I swear, if you wanted me to, I’d drive down to Georgia right now and kill your dad. But only if you wanted me to.” Jack said, only because he knew it would make Bitty laugh and chirp him. Bitty pulled back to look at him, smiling despite the tears still running down his cheeks and laughed, proving Jack right.

“You’re going to fly down to Georgia, and kill my six foot six football coach of a father? Jack, I love you so much but I think he could take you.” He laughed and dropped his head onto Jack's shoulder, shaking with laughter this time instead of sobs. Jack smiled into Bitty’s hair and swayed him gently back and forth, as if to the beat of music that wasn’t playing. Bitty pulled his head back and reached his hand up to trace patterns onto the fabric of Jack’s t-shirt. “Thank you.” He said, his voice quiet

“For what?” Jack whispered back.

Bitty looked into his eyes and smiled. “For being you.” He answered.

Jack wrapped him in a hug and pressed a kiss to the top of his head. “I love you so much.” He said into his hair. Jack released him and looked down at him. “Now, drink some water so you don’t die, and get into bed and go to sleep. I’ll be in in a second.” Jack said. Bitty beamed and joined their lips together in a kiss, a real one, before turning to Jack’s bedroom. Jack watched his retreating form and smiled at the fact that when the thought that he would never love anyone as much as he loved him came into his mind, he didn't panic at all, only walked after him to join him in the bedroom.

 

**Author's Note:**

> how the fuck do you end stories lmfao ok. also im not gonna lie i wrote this in two hours last night while rewatching friends and didn't really edit it tbh?? this is ok. anyways, come hang with me on tumblr!!


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